Weak At The Knees

Last night I cooked dinner for a very good friend. I started out with my ultimate comfort food - Sticky Thai Chicken - and finished up with Apple, Berry & Port Crumble (with far too much vanilla ice cream). I often wonder if I wasn't Asian in a past life - Asian food is my go-to for comfort (hello, pho!), I am always drawn to Asian people and Asia is a place of comfort when travelling (whereas for others, they feel totally out of their comfort zone - I do NOT understand it!). I also find Asian people to be some of the nicest in the world, and I love their ancient teachings and methods of healing. Hmmm... I digress!

Dessert. It's getting cold outside babies, so we Aussies can be forgiven for reaching for the stodgy foods to fill us up and warm us inside and out. This little gem of a recipe is amazing for its warmth, sophistication yet homeliness, and its lovely fruitiness without being too heavy. Try this one at home.



Apple, Berry & Port Crumble
Ingredients
50g unsalted butter
1kg Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, cut into 1cm slices
500g frozen mixed berries
185g caster sugar
300ml port
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
300g good-quality shortbread biscuits

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180°C.

2. Melt 20g of the butter in a pan over medium-low heat. Cook apple, stirring, for 5-6 minutes until soft. Add berries, sugar, port and cinnamon. Cover and cook for 8 minutes until fruit gives off a lot of juice. Using a slotted spoon, transfer fruit to a 2L pie dish or six 300ml ramekins. Reduce juice in pan over medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes until syrupy. Pour over fruit.

3. Pulse shortbread in a processor to form coarse crumbs. Add remaining butter and process to combine. Top fruit with crumbs. Bake for 35 minutes until golden.

***

This recipe is from my favourite cooking magazine, delicious.

I cannot emphasise enough the need for good quality shortbread. I used two kinds, because I wanted to see the difference: the expensive stuff and the cheap stuff. Pay a bit extra and you will reap the rewards in terms of texture and ability to cook expertly with your biscuit crumbs: the cheap stuff just does not blend well, whereas the quality stuff is so melty and pliable. It is a dream to cook with!

I didn't have enough ramekins so just used a normal old pie dish, and it cooked really well. Because I was doing a few different dishes, I prepared the crumble the day ahead - and it was fine! Even with the crumbs having sweated a bit because I put the Cling Wrap on a little too soon.

Paired with my Sticky Thai was some organic broccoli from my parent's vegetable garden... Would you believe it looked like broccolini? I wonder if broccoli is genetically modified for the mass market? I also wonder if I'm spelling it correctly...